


kiss me in the dark tonight

by Del (goddessdel)



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, Luna University, River in a short dress, Young!River, which is basically River in shorts, you can pretty much guess how it goes from there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 21:44:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1998960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddessdel/pseuds/Del
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River young was, well, a handful didn't even begin to describe it. She kept both his hands full and the rest of him besides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	kiss me in the dark tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Written: 3/29/14-6/25/14
> 
> Title from "Lolita" by Lana Del Rey.
> 
> This fic is similar to "[Her lips are like the galaxy's edge](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1362076)" by [heavenisalibrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenisalibrary/pseuds/heavenisalibrary) completely accidentally. Either great minds think alike, or her camping fic just required short dresses at a public party as follow-up. I regret nothing.
> 
> Between Alyssa ([heavenisalibrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenisalibrary/pseuds/heavenisalibrary)) and Pam ([mygalfriday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrinneyFriday/pseuds/mygalfriday)) and their gratuitous young!River fics, probably all my inspiration has been stolen inadvertently from them. It was too good not to jump in on. Sorry/not sorry? LOVE YOU BOTH!
> 
> Huge thanks to Becs for the beta(s)!

River young was, well, a handful didn't even begin to describe it. She kept both his hands full and the rest of him besides.

 

He'd always thought that maybe, when he was older and River was younger, he'd know how to handle her. It turned out that he never had the faintest idea of how to handle River. She kept him on his toes and she made him blush and he never knew what she would do next. He shouldn't like that. Kind of really did.

 

He'd had plenty of practice with younger Rivers lately. He tried hard not to think of it that way, but he knew he was coming to the end - to the point back in Berlin where she didn't know who she was, and only knew him by the people he'd failed. But they were not there yet.

 

No, they were in her dorm at Luna, where she was working on no less than eight separate degrees all at once (history, anthropology, archaeology, astrophysics, engineering, genetics, biology, and a rather troubling aptitude for chemistry) with full honors. Where Mels had loathed school, River devoured it.

 

The Doctor knocked jauntily at her door, leant haphazardly against the frame as he waited for her to answer. River's dorm was not exactly big enough for the TARDIS, and he didn't want to draw too much attention this early in her timeline. His psychic paper got him into the building, but the other dorm occupants still glanced at him curiously as they scurried through the halls on their way to some lecture or another.

 

River rarely went to all her lectures - she couldn't possibly manage them all with her schedule, even if she'd acquired a vortex manipulator already. Instead, she did all the reading at once, aced the tests, and treated the lectures and homework as optional at best. She was absolutely brilliant and utterly rubbish at minding the rules.

 

He was already grinning when River opened the door, her answering smile bright and genuine as she moved aside to allow him entry. "Fancy seeing you here, sweetie."

 

There was an enormous pile of books scattered across the desk behind her. River was wearing joggers set low on her hips, her vest riding up to reveal just a hint of honeyed skin above the elastic. Her feet were bare and her hair was haphazardly shoved into a bun with a pen holding it in place. She licked her lips pointedly when the Doctor's eyes met hers. "See anything you like?"

 

The Doctor fought against a blush, the corners of his lips turning up in a smirk. "I am rather fond of Chaucer. Though your history text is appallingly inaccurate, as always."

 

"Only because you keep rewriting it." River challenged, rolling her eyes at him and crossing her arms in a way that kept his attention focused on her rather than her textbooks.

 

Rocking on his heels, the Doctor twisted his hands to keep from reaching for her and fought to keep his eyes fixed on River's face and not... other bits. "Not rewriting. Just - editing, a bit. You could join me?"

 

River bit her lip as she thought his offer over. He found it adorable, though he was smart enough not to mention that. "Are you asking me on a date, Doctor?"

 

Eyes wide, the Doctor scrubbed a hand through his hair nervously. "Yes. No. Well - it depends. I - do you want me to?"

 

"No."

 

Deflating, the Doctor ducked his head and nodded, turning half for the door. He'd thought - well, he'd certainly thought they were past that point. Was she that early in her schooling? Hadn't Berlin - well. "Right, well - I just - I suppose I'll just be off then. You should really be studying anyway. Exams and whatnot, Ms. Song."

 

River's hand on his arm stopped him before he could turn. "Oh, you ridiculous man. Yes, I should be studying for my exams, but when has that ever stopped me? But no, I don't want to go off mucking about with history - at least, not today. If you're properly asking me on a date, I want to go out."

 

"Out? I can do out." The Doctor straightened his bowtie, already racing through ideas of places he could take her and visions he could show her. "Dinner? Dancing? Oh! There's the star gallery of Beta Prime - I think you'd enjoy the dancing, though they have some very strict laws about not going over the edges of the ballroom force field. I bet the sonic could alter the field just enough that we could see what all the fuss is about, though." He never could resist a keep out sign.

 

River's eyes lit up, but she shook her head. "Later, definitely. There's a party in the lunar solarium to celebrate the end of the term."

 

He had yet to spend much time actually around Luna University. There were so many wonders he wanted to show River, places he wanted to run with her hand in hand. But she was giving him a look that was simultaneously nervous and stubborn, and he knew that this was important to her. River wasn't nearly so good at hiding her feelings this young and, well, he'd had enough practice the hard way to learn to look out for them. "Right. Lunar solarium it is. Rubbish name, that - holdover from back on earth. It's hardly a solarium when there's only sun in two week stretches." He scrubbed a hand through his hair and considered their current solar position. "If we go now, we can catch the earth-set."

 

But River had already retreated further into her room and was neatly folding up her notes and stacking her books. "Give me a mo'. I have a date to get ready for."

 

"Oh," the Doctor shuffled, confused. "Do you want me to go?" He supposed she did need to at least put on shoes - not that going barefoot had ever stopped River in the past.

 

"And have you turn back up three weeks later? Sorry, honey, I've seen the way you drive, and I think I'll keep you right where you are."

 

River winked as he mumbled a protest about his driving skills, and then she whipped her vest over her head and dropped her joggers, wandering around her room naked while she tried to decide on a dress and the Doctor tried to avert his eyes. "River!"

 

"What? It's not anything you haven't seen before." There was a challenge in her voice, and far too much cheekiness.

 

"I - that's - _spoilers_ ," the Doctor choked the word out, waving his hands frantically and already feeling a blush crawl up his neck.

 

"Not hardly," River muttered, selecting a dress that didn't actually look long enough to be a dress at all. "And aren't we supposed to compare diaries before that word crops up?"

 

Still flustered, but appreciating the diversion from his very young, very naked wife doing her very level best to torture him, the Doctor hurried to agree. He kept forgetting that it was up to him to mention diaries now - always too caught up in River to remember to keep their timelines straight and spoiler-free. His diary was neatly settled in his breast pocket, and he drew it out carefully - River this young was forever trying to peak ahead. It seemed neither of them were any good at following the rules - even and especially their own. "Right, where are we then, dear? Have we seen the Great Machine yet?"

 

River let her hair down as she reached for her own, newer diary, not bothering to put on her dress yet. "I'm in my final year. We've been to the Great Machine. You've seen me naked. And last week you nearly got beheaded by Henry VIII because he asked me to dance and you were jealous."

 

"He didn't _just_ ask you to dance, River!" The Doctor huffed, the incident still relatively fresh in his mind. He'd been more than a bit worried that old Henry wanted to add another wife what with the way he'd been eyeing River. Really, he didn't know how River had even talked him into attending one of Henry's balls, after the incident with Amy. He suspected the promise of her in a low-cut corset had something to do with it. Never again, he vowed.

 

Still, it gave him a fairly good idea where River was in her timeline. Still early days, but not nearly that early. He crossed the room to help River with her zip, letting his fingers brush over her spine as he tugged it up. "There. Perfect."

 

"You're not so bad yourself," River mused, spinning in his arms and leaning up on her tiptoes for a proper hello kiss.

 

His whole body relaxed into hers, as though he could finally breathe only now that he was kissing River. He'd never know how she managed him young - the moments where he couldn't touch her always left him tense with longing. He missed those too rare days when they were both old enough to kiss hello and goodbye without spoilers.

 

River kissed him with the sort of wild abandon that said putting clothes on was really not what she had in mind. The Doctor pulled back gently, rubbing his hands along River's arms when she reached for him again. "Wouldn't want to miss the party, would we?"

 

River grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like _tease,_ but stepped back, grabbing her shoes and purse and pushing him out the door only a bit forcefully. The Doctor just offered River his arm and let her lead them to the solarium.

 

The Doctor wasn't quite sure what he'd expected - he'd been more than a bit distracted by the idea of all River's skin hidden away by what was really a rather daringly short skirt - but the second they reached the solarium he knew this had been a terrible mistake.

 

The music was all drums, bracing and loud, and the students were dashing about sloppily with colorful drinks and loud shrieks.

 

" _River_ ," the Doctor whinged, tugging at his bowtie uncomfortably as he tried to steer them through the crowd while people bumped past and into them.

 

River just laughed, swiping a drink from one of the floating trays meandering by and downing it in one fast gulp. "Relax, Doctor. It's just a party. You like parties. Besides, I know you love to dance."

 

"I'm not sure this is the right sort of dancing-"

 

But another student had run up to River, reaching for her in a half hug and glancing between River and the Doctor. "River! You made it after all! I thought you had to study? And who's this, then?"

 

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at River at the comment about studying, but offered the girl in front of them a friendly handshake. "Hello, I'm the Doctor!"

 

River rolled her eyes and elaborated, "Yes, that's his name. No, he's not a professor. Yes, we're dating."

 

Her friend gave him a slow once over that had the Doctor fidgeting and fighting against a blush. _Dating_. Well, he supposed that made sense from River's perspective. "Well, well, isn't that interesting." The girl glanced back at River and then offered the Doctor a smile, finally offering his hand a brief shake. "I'm Arinthia. And you both should come and have a drink. The chemistry table has mixed up some of their own concoctions to celebrate the end of term."

 

"I - er - I don't think -"

 

"We'd love to," River cut over him, looping her free arm through Arinthia's and dragging the Doctor with them to the raucous table in the back corner that appeared to represent the chemistry students.

 

Along the way, River somehow managed to acquire two more of the brightly colored drinks floating over their heads, even though she hardly seemed to release the Doctor or Arinthia. Her and River were chatting away about their genetics exam, while the Doctor glanced around in the hope of an exit strategy. A nice alien invasion wouldn't exactly go amiss at this juncture.

 

He caught just enough of their conversation to be alarmed. "River! You can't just engineer a new virus!"

 

"Of course I can, sweetie, it's easy," River rolled her eyes with Arinthia as though he were being ridiculous.

 

He was not being ridiculous. "It's reckless, River! What if it got out?"

 

Arinthia discretely extracted herself from the conversation with a snort, shoving aside some people at the table to make room for them all. River slid into the booth and dragged the Doctor after her, even as she shot back. "Oh, it was attenuated to lab conditions and the university makes us put a kill switch in them anyway. Now stop worrying, sweetie. It's a party."

 

The chemistry students seemed to have finished their latest concoction, which they blithely passed around the table. The Doctor eyed his smoking fuchsia drink worriedly. "I'm not worrying," he stubbornly countered, even though he was more than a bit.

 

Not about the virus or the drink, but about being out and about surrounded by an awfully large number of very young humans and his very young wife dressed in very little.

 

"Of course you aren't," River just laughed and pressed a smacking kiss to his cheek, before stealing his drink and downing it along with her own.

 

His soon to be very drunk very young wife dressed in very little. The Doctor felt his heart rates speed up in horror even as he fought against a fond smile as River settled in next to him and rescued him from the next drink to come his way.

 

The rest of the table was oddly silent. When the Doctor looked up from River, he noticed that the entirety of the table's occupants had their attention riveted to them. The Doctor cleared his throat and fidgeted with his bowtie, glancing back at River nervously, but she merely sidled closer to him with an unconcerned and slightly wicked grin.

 

Arinthia, bless her, braved the awkward silence. "So, Doctor Not A Professor, what is it that you do?"

 

"Oh, a bit of this and that - travel, mostly," the Doctor hedged. He generally liked to be a bit more under the radar than this, unless the situation called for his expertise. Faced with all these university students - practically children, really - he felt inexplicably like a schoolboy found wanting.

 

Another chemistry student spoke up, sounding slightly petulant. "Is that how you and River met then? On one of her archaeology digs?"

 

The Doctor swallowed hard, fighting back memories of the first time he had met River. "In a manner of speaking," he managed, thankfully distracted by River's hand stroking across his upper thigh.

 

"Ooh, spoilers," River crooned, low and decadent against his ear.

 

A nervous titter went through the crowd, and then conversation seemed to resume, though many of them kept darting glances toward the Doctor and River.

 

"Hardly," he replied, voice low and head bent into her curls, "I could have meant Berlin."

 

"What was so archaeological about Berlin?" River teased, not to be distracted from the topic at hand.

 

The Doctor chuckled slightly. "Well, there was Hitler in the cupboard."

 

River's answering laugh was low and melodious and half of the table turned to stare longingly at the sound.

 

He pulled slightly back and tried to discretely remove River's hand - moving a bit too high for in public now, not that it had ever stopped her before - but she ignored him. She was also ignoring her classmates, for all her demands that they come out tonight. The Doctor frowned - reminding himself that his River was very young (very, very young) and he should be showing her a good time rather than hiding behind her nonexistent skirt. And he really should just stop thinking about her skirt all together.

 

He leant forward as much as possible, given River pressed into his side, and tried to pay attention to the conversation flowing around them. How hard could it really be to fit in with her classmates? He'd done a bang up job of being a normal bloke when he'd roomed with Craig, after all.

 

River contented herself by teasing him mercilessly, her clever fingers drawing positively wicked patterns across his trousers. She grinned at her classmates as though nothing were amiss, and joined the conversation easily enough, though her eyes kept darting toward the Doctor's mouth when he spoke. His arm was tucked securely around her bare shoulders, and he found himself playing with the curls at the base of her neck.

 

One of her classmates was in the middle of describing the buffer components of the latest flaming concoction when River abruptly shoved the Doctor out of the booth, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground if not for her grip at his waist as she scrambled out after. "Let's dance," she announced widely before striding out to the dance floor, the Doctor in tow.

 

They'd missed the earth-set after all.

 

"Rude," the Doctor chastised, even as River turned in his arms and began swaying them to the fast beat, settling his hands on her hips. "Dudley and I were in the middle of discussing the quantum decay of some of the newly discovered elements - well new in this century, at least. Still a few hundred elements to go before the human periodic table catches up, I'm afraid."

 

River hummed noncommittally, pressing even closer against the Doctor until his fingers tightened involuntarily at her hips. "You should have kept your hands to yourself, then."

 

"Me!" the Doctor scoffed, "You were the one with the hands all - handsy!"

 

Speaking of hands, the Doctor realized that if he stretched his out, his fingertips were brushing against the bare skin of River's thighs. He found himself toying with the hem of her short, clingy dress quite against his will. He had to keep reminding himself that this River was too young to press up against the nearest hard surface and shag, but it was incredibly difficult between her distracting clothing and the way she was wiggling up against him.

 

"Now who's handsy?" River purred, her lips pressed against his ear and the rest of her pressed against him besides.

 

"Just trying to keep up, dear," he said into her curls, voice loud and hoarse to be heard above the music even though he bent so his mouth was next to her ear.

 

The beat was too fast for him to make any sense of where to move his limbs, so the Doctor mostly just hung on to River and tried to hang on to his faculties as she writhed around him. It was positively indecent, but the rest of the dance floor seemed to take no notice, engaged in their own flagrant couplings.

 

Not that he was paying anyone else much mind with River wrapped around him so close that they might as well be naked. They were hopelessly out of sync with the music, but River didn't seem to mind. Her pulse was fast and her breaths shallow as she pressed herself tight against him in all the best - and most distracting - ways.

 

"Maybe you should take me somewhere we can move a little faster, then," River countered, her hand slipping under his frockcoat to squeeze his bum.

 

He yelped and bucked into her, startled, which seemed to be exactly the reaction River was hoping for, judging by her pleased noise, low in the back of her throat.

 

Against all his better judgment, the Doctor found himself asking, "Where?" In a hurried whisper-shout.

 

River twisted sinuously around so that she was pressed back into him quite intimately, which was almost more distracting than when she had been facing him. "Hang on, sweetie," she purred, and then she began to wind her way through the crowd, the Doctor clinging to her hips and pressed tight against her to fit through the miniscule gaps she found between dancers.

 

She led him to a dark corner of the solarium, well away from the giant skylight and the artificial floating sconces. There was a doorway nearby, but River twisted again and the Doctor found himself pinned up against the shadowed wall. River leant up on her tiptoes until she could capture his lips in a hot, needy kiss.

 

The Doctor found his hands sliding around to grip her bum, his fingers teasing at the edge of the fabric, right at the sensitive crease at the top of her thighs. River shivered, her hands reaching between them for his trousers.

 

He started at the sound of his zip being undone, pulling back from the sweet delight of her mouth and trying to focus his scattered thoughts. This was - they were - she was... "River - not - what are you doing, River?!"

 

"I'd have thought that would be obvious, sweetie," River's clever little hands did not pause at undressing him even as she smirked up at him, eyes shining and lips swollen already from their snogging.

 

The vision of her nearly short-circuited his brain again, until the sound of students passing a little too close for comfort made him tug her closer and remember where they were. "We can't - not _here_ , River." She wiggled against him impatiently, apparently finding his attempt at being serious quite amusing, and a horrible idea occurred to him. "You're - are you drunk, River?!"

 

At that, River huffed and pulled slightly back, her hands stilling between them. "No, I'm not drunk, Doctor. And don't pretend to be a prude - or are you forgetting how we managed to get arrested by Henry VIII?"

 

She crossed her arms over her chest to rather spectacular effect - though possibly not the one she was going for.

 

The Doctor had yet to remove his hands. He hastily lifted them off of her, couldn't decide where it was safe to put them, and fidgeted nervously before shoving one in his hair and the other out to the side where it couldn't touch anything River-shaped. "That was... well, the important part is that we got arrested. Which is not something we should be repeating here, at this party, with all your classmates around. It's hardly appropriate - what if someone sees -"

 

His hand had fallen back to her waist during his diatribe, and River merely rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms, one hand coming up to stroke teasingly across his bowtie. "Nobody will see us. I can't wait any longer, Doctor. I've been wanting to drag you into a corner and shag you senseless all night."

 

To prove her point, River brought his hand from her waist to press his fingers against the slick flesh between her thighs. They both bit back moans at the contact. His fingers slid between her folds, wet and slippery and barely covered by her short skirt.

 

The Doctor spun them around until he could press River back against the wall and shield her from view with his frockcoat. "You should always wear knickers in public," he growled, voice low with his desire.

 

River was trying to kill him - soaking wet, knickerless, in that tiny, maddening dress.

 

"Do you?" She countered, grin wicked and eyes curious. Her hands tracing where he was straining against his trousers, hard and aching already.

 

"I never wear your knickers in public," he teased, watching as River's eyes went wide, darkening as she tried to decide if he was serious.

 

But they needed to be quick now. He pressed one finger inside the molten silk of her and River moaned, clenching at him and grinding her hips into his hand. He tilted her chin up for a kiss with his free hand, muffling the noise she made as he added a second finger. The music was loud, but so was River. He thumbed her clit as he drove his fingers into her, building her up fast and using every trick he'd long known to make River fall apart. It was hardly fair, he knew, but River never took pity on him when she was the one who knew his body inside out.

 

River's hands roamed his body, teasing and stroking and encouraging. It all felt so _good_ and he was so focused on the feel of her wrapped around his fingers that he didn't notice her tugging his zip the rest of the way down until she wrapped her hand around his cock and drew it out into the warm solarium air.

 

With a pleased groan, the Doctor brought his other hand down to squeeze her breasts through her dress. He tweaked her nipples in time with the motions of his other hand against her clit, curving his fingers just so inside her.

 

River fell apart with a muffled shriek, her legs trembling and walls clenching. She pulled back, gasping needed breath and clutching at him. Her fingers closed over his wrist, dragging his hand up until she could bring it to her lips. River slid her mouth over his digits sinuously, her tongue twining around each one slowly and thoroughly.

 

When she released his hand, licking her lips, River smirked up at him and the Doctor felt the rest of his blood rush from his head, straining toward her. "I'd put something else in my mouth if you weren't so worried about getting caught," River teased, her voice sin incarnate.

 

"Turn around," his voice sounded low and gruff even to his own ears.

 

River shifted between him and the wall, bracing her hands. "What if someone sees?" He could hear the smirk in her voice.

 

The Doctor rucked up her skirt and ran his hands and then his cock over her naked bottom, relishing her delighted shiver. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, my bad girl? For someone to catch us with our kit off? Someone could come by any moment... Best keep quiet then." He kept his voice pitched low at her ear. He knew exactly how much River got off on the danger of being caught. They both did, if he were honest, which he didn't intend to be.

 

He shifted, bending until he could slide his cock against her slick sex and press into her. River arched back with a whimper, her palms flat against the smooth surface of the wall and her lip caught between her teeth.

 

Not wanting to draw attention to them - a little danger was one thing, actually getting caught quite another - the Doctor kept his strokes long and slow, despite River's blatant attempts to hurry him. He pressed her further into the wall to hold her still.

 

"Doctor," she whinged, voice breathless and heated with her pleasure and annoyance, "God, just _more_ , sweetie."

 

Not to be swayed, the Doctor held her hips in place with one hand, the other sliding across her stomach and making its way lower. His fingers were still damp from her mouth when he brought them between her legs, circling the sensitive bundle of nerves there with deliberate slowness. "Patience," he chided.

 

River actually growled at him. The sound would have been more terrifying if he didn't know exactly how enjoyable her vengeance could be. The Doctor pressed a chaste kiss to her temple, and quickly pulled back before she could bite him for daring. River was adorable when she was all wound up and demanding.

 

But time was of the essence. The Doctor sped up the circles of his fingers over River's clit, carefully shifting his hips until River hissed between her firmly clenched teeth to hide a scream. It only took a few deep strokes after that before River fell apart all over again, gasping out breaths between clenched lips as she arched back against him and pulsed around him. She was exquisite, and the Doctor followed her quickly into carnal abyss, muffling his own shout into the miasma of her hair.

 

They rested against the wall for a moment while the beat of the music and chatter of students slowly filtered back though. The Doctor could forget the universe when he was with River - it was utterly brilliant and terribly dangerous all at once.

 

River shifted impatiently and the Doctor hurried to set them to rights, blushing as he tucked himself away and helped River smooth down her dress as she turned in his arms for a surprisingly soft kiss.

 

The dress seemed even shorter now that the Doctor tried to tug it down without accidentally turning it into a skirt. River shifted, batting his hands away, and the light hit the wetness from their union, slick against her thighs. The Doctor fished in his pockets for a handkerchief to help her clean up, craning his neck to see if there might be a loo nearby.

 

River shook out her curls and bit her lip, watching him. "You don't have a spare pair of my knickers in there by any chance, sweetie?"

 

The Doctor sniffed at the implication, his ears turning red. "I don't just carry around your knickers, River!"

 

"Oh well," she shrugged, lounging against the wall looking delightfully sated. "Can't blame a girl for asking."

 

He couldn't exactly see very far without moving, which would expose River from the protection of his coat - _actually - that might work_. The Doctor glanced anxiously from side to side to make sure they were still unnoticed before shrugging off his frockcoat and offering it to River. It would do, at least, until they could sneak out to the TARDIS or her dorm or anywhere they weren't surrounded by students. And this was absolutely the last time River talked him into something like this with her corsets or short skirts and that positively wicked curve of her lips.

 

River's nose wrinkled adorably. "I'll ruin it."

 

Raking his hand through his hair nervously and trying not to think of the scent of River lingering on this frockcoat, the Doctor babbled. "Nonsense, I'll pop it in the TARDIS laundry when we get back. Worst case, I'm sure the temporal laundry will fix it right up. Though last time I tried it, I ended up with a great cloud of cotton. And it was possibly still attached to a sheep. Not completely sure how that works, really."

 

His coat fell past River's knees as she slipped it on and wrapped it securely around herself, crossing her arms to hold it closed. The top bulged open across her ample bosom, but her dress was at least modest enough to make up for it. "What kind of coat doesn't have buttons, Doctor?"

 

"Oi - the cool kind, River Song."

 

River snorted, but merely pinched the coat together in one hand and slid the other into his. "What do you say we skip the rest of the party, Doctor?"

 

That sounded like an excellent idea. Unfortunately, the nearby door proved to be a storage closet, which meant they had to wind their way through the dance floor and past the chemistry table to reach the exit.

 

River leant into his side to whisper all the things she intended to do to him when they got back to the TARDIS. It was a long and creative list that had the Doctor quickening his pace and forgetting entirely that he'd meant to take things slow. Well, it was a little late for that anyway.

 

A low whistle from a nearby table tore the Doctor from his River-induced haze. He glanced up from her curls to find that they were passing the chemistry table.

 

"I can't believe my eyes - I thought nobody would ever bag River."

 

"That guy, seriously? He's wearing a bowtie - since when are bowties even a thing?"

 

"So that's why they snuck off - for a quick shag!"

 

"Wow, they really are dating. You're buying the next round, Dudley!"

 

A chorus of laughter sprung up, Dudley turning an embarrassed mauve. Arinthia motioned to River discretely, wide-eyed and clearly curious.

 

Slack-jawed in the wake of comments - and what did they mean _since when were bowties even a thing?_ \- the Doctor glanced down helplessly at River, who had left off torturing him when he stopped moving.

 

Wearing his coat, eyes sparkling and hair wild, River merely flashed a smile that was all teeth and blew the table a kiss. "See you at the exam, boys. Better start studying if you hope to keep up."

 

She steered the Doctor away before he could even begin to formulate a coherent response. They made it outside, free of the excited chatter and demanding music, before the Doctor was able to restart his stalled brain. "River, everybody - they all knew!" Right, so he still wasn't exactly at his most coherent.

 

River laughed, completely unconcerned that her entire class apparently knew exactly what they had been up to. "Of course they did, sweetie. You shagged me in the middle of the party. We were hardly being discrete."

 

The Doctor sputtered. "Yes, well - that was - you were -" He could feel his whole body blushing.

 

River let him flail for a moment before she pulled him close to whisper cheekily in his ear. "Oh, calm down, sweetie. Nobody actually saw anything, or else they would have teased us far more."

 

Squeezing her to his side as he steered them toward the hidden TARDIS, the Doctor confessed, "I feel like a dirty old man, River!"

 

She snorted delicately. "Oh, Doctor, you absolutely are a dirty old man."

 

Well, that was true. He could hardly blame River for their party shenanigans when he had been a very active participant. River had a way of making him forget all his normal social mores. This was why it was so dangerous when River was young - after all this time, he was still completely powerless to resist her when she looked at him like she wanted to eat him alive. And, well, her being in such a short dress should probably be illegal. If he were pressed between the fate of the universe and River Song in that dress - well, it would be a near thing, indeed. "Only with you."

 

Her sharp smile softened. River this young was still terribly insecure and jealous even though he did everything in his power to let her know there was nothing to be insecure about. Everything he could to make up for when he was young and hurt her with his feigned indifference and thunderous anger.

 

They reached the TARDIS and River let his coat fall open as she tugged him after her into the console room. One eyebrow arched. "Fine - my dirty old man, then. Come on, Time Lord. I know you have a kink for me wearing your coat, but I need a bath and a change of clothes before we go mucking about in history."

 

He hadn't known he had a thing for her in his coat until tonight. He wondered if his eyes gave him away or if that was _spoilers_. "Oh, and where are we off to then?"

 

"Well, I did rather fancy the star gallery of Beta Prime, now that you mention it."

 

The Doctor just laughed as he hurried to set the coordinates. Next stop - everywhere.


End file.
